The Scholar's Journey
by AmoraLynn
Summary: Set in a time where the Splugorth rule almost every continent and the Coalition States control the US. Mine is the story of my capture and escape.This story is written in the form of a journal. I do not own any part of the Rifts Universe.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do own any part of the Rifts Universe. **

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**_Journal Entry I_**

This is written after the siege of the scholar's estate and the death of my teacher. Landon and I are currently traveling from the lost continent of Atlantis back to the estate. When the Splugorth attacked the estate, I was separated from my fellow students and taken to Atlantis. Because of my education the creatures there were unable to use mind control to make me a slave (thank God) and I was thrown into a cave-like cell to be eaten by one of their monsters. Inside the cell there was almost no light and I could not see anything at first. So I stood yelling at the guard and demanded to be released.

When I grew tired of this I turned around and saw what it was that was with me, or rather I saw its eyes. They were the eyes of a feline. As I stood shocked, it turned its eyes from me and stared in the darkness. Although I could see nothing I could tell that it was circling me. Have you ever seen a cat play with a mouse? Well I felt like the mouse in said situation. As it was circling me at first I could only see glimpses of it. I could tell that it was a panther, and a rather large one at that.

Then all of a sudden it reached out with a giant paw and knocked me to the ground. When I got up it was back in the darkness and I could hear a slight growl but because of the cave and the horrendous amounts of fear pulsing through me, I could no longer tell where it was. Then it started toying with me. It would come out of the darkness at me like it was going to maul me. This it did several times, and I would get a minor scratch. It was as if it wanted to smell the blood before actually killing me. Just as I thought it would finally kill me, I was given an even greater surprise; it moved into the light and spoke to me.

"Stupid girl, I do not care for the taste of human."

Then it changed forms into that of a human male, and began speaking in a foreign tongue; that I now know to be Gobblely. One of the guards began shouting at him in a very annoyed manner, as if what the creature had asked was below him. Then the creature spoke to me again,

"Well it looks like you're going to be my cell mate, if you'd like I can have them bring your effects. At least the non-violent ones."

OH BY THE WAY I'M COMPLETELY NAKED AT THIS POINT!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Rifts Universe.**

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When brought to Atlantis all slaves undergo the same inspection. We are stripped of all our personal possessions and anything deemed dangerous or otherwise valuable on the inter-dimensional market. After which, we are deloused and sanitized to avoid the transfer of diseases from our home country. Then we are inspected by a Splugorth slaver and a loyal slave of our race. The inspection covers all the basics, it is similar to the checking of a good show dog, except failure meant **DEATH.** The corpses are prepared and fed to the other slaves. The men who passed the tests with exceptional physical and/or mental ability are immediately killed. Any women who are deemed attractive are inspected further by the loyal slaves and Splugorth, let me put it this way, you don't want to be exceptionally beautiful. After the inspection the Splugorth will then check your mental capacity for mind control. If you are susceptible to the mind control, your eyes would then be cut out and you would be infused into one of the slave barges. EW. I was lucky enough to be inspected a second time (shudder) but alas my mental capacity was a bit much for that of the mind control unit. Plus I bite, hard, and that was how I wound up in the cave with a human-panther thingy. So back to my cat friend, I told him,

"Yes as a matter of fact I would love to have my clothes back. And possibly some water to clean up with."

He then spoke to the guard in his weird language and the guard mumbled under his breath, he seemed quite annoyed to me, and walked away. After a few hours I had given up on the possibility of getting my clothes back and had resigned myself to death from exposure. My panther friend had gone back in to his cat form which I assumed was quite a bit warmer than his human form. Then the cat very meekly and foolishly asked,

"Would you like me to warm you?"

"What the hell?! I was molested by some random guy, then again my some weird alien with tentacles and now this damn talking cat is jacking with me?!" I screamed to no one in particular.

Then he answered "I'm so sorry I didn't mean it that way, I can just see that you're cold."

By this time my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and while he was speaking I was him turn his head towards the door and perk his ears, as if he ad heard something.

"It matters not what I meant though as your effects have arrived."

"Well it's about time, are they trying to freeze me to death?"

"Don't get to excited he's sill about two hundred yards off and they won't be your original clothes, as all the slaves are issued the same attire."

A few moments later the single guard arrived with my possessions, I was surprised to see only one guard as I was pretty sure my feline friend could have very easily taken him. The guard handed me my possessions in a very large sack. Most of my things were still there although my clothing had been replaced by an indecent garment that resembled what women of the "Age of Men" would call a 'string bikini'. It was near translucent and offered little protection from the elements. The guard said something to my feline friend and then returned to his post. Then the panther began to speak to me,

"Well the guard was slightly perturbed with my ordering him about but he should bring you bedding some time tomorrow, maybe. In the mean time you should just make yourself comfortable with my fur, my name by the way is Landon, Landon Glenn von Elysion."

At this point I just bombarded the poor man with a multitude of questions and he actually spoke to me, well sort of. It was quite possibly the most interesting conversation I had ever partaken of. What with him being a cat and all.

"So how long have you been eating slave? And just how did you end up here? And where are you from? How old are you? Do you age like a normal person?"

As I asked him these questions I shuffled through the bag the guard brought me for my journal, a small light and my pencil.

"Slow down you humans get far too excited far too easily, I will never understand why you are so impatient."

"Well I suppose I get it from my teacher, are you going to tell me anything?"

"First shouldn't you introduce yourself too, or if you prefer I could just call you plaything?"

"No actually I do not want to be called plaything, why would anyone want to be called that? Any way forgive my rudeness, I was only following suit, what with your toying with me and then using the freezing temperatures as a way to cop a feel. My name is April Lynn au Soleil. I am a scholar and I was taken from my school on the day of my inauguration. My teacher was killed, really he was like my father and I…"

"Quiet, you were lucky to have a family at all. Regardless of whether or not he was your father, I never knew any of my kind. I was taken before my eyes were even open, I was just a cub and unable to take any form other than that of a panther, I don't know why but even in the first few months of my life while I was kept in the Splugorth animal pits I never disliked the human caretakers. They as well as the elves and a few of the other humanoids were more affectionate towards me than any of the other races. Yet even for that the elves and other non-human races meant nothing to me when it came time for feeding. But enough about that and about me."

"Well for the love of pete, don't stop there what happened? I know you're a cub in a pit, how did you get here?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Rifts Universe.**

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He sighed,

"I'd forgotten how much you humans like to put your noses where they don't belong. I once liked all humans blindly, the two men who cared for me in the pits were the only humans I knew at first and they would always feed me more than the Gargoyles, Splugorth, or any of the DBs (Dimensional Beings).

Yet as a reward the Splugorth killed them and fed them to the other slaves. By this time I had matured past the cute, cuddly, cub stage and was now the same size as a normal panther. But I still could not transform.

I was bought from the slave pits by a_ true_ Atlantian stone master; I found out later that he was considered a traitor to the beliefs of the _true_ Atlantians. I know not of the equivalence the gems he paid with would be in currency, but it was a large bag of gems and I'm sure he overpaid. He took me to his estate or what was once 'his' estate, as it now belonged to the Splugorth and he simply ran it.

It was one of the stone master's pyramids used by the _true_ Atlantians to control the rifts, and now it was being used by the Splugorth for inter-dimensional trade and conquest. Many years passed and while I was under him the knowledge of language came to me, as well as the ability to change forms, and many of my other abilities. Thus he became increasingly aware of my magical abilities.

He started teaching me the art of stone mastery and I caught on much more quickly than any of the forced Splugorth students. But as time passed he found a woman, had children and after all even stone masters only live eight to nine hundred years, so he passed on. During that time I was like a most beloved house hold pet but never really part of the family.

It was strange seeing the way the pyramids affected his life he seemed to linger on in the perpetual state of dusk. It was like the hourglass of his life had stopped on the last few grains. He sat by and watched as the Splugorth learned the secrets of the pyramids until they no longer needed him, and vacated him to the settlements outside of the pyramids. There he watched his wife, his son, his grandchildren, and their children's children pass on to where ever they may go.

Towards the end of his days, he told me he didn't know how he could have made it so far without his eternal pet who hardly seemed to age past maturity. Then he began to cry, and told me he had something to tell me and two things to show me. As we walked towards the pyramid, which we were no longer allowed in, he told me that after he bought me and noticed my abilities he had researched me.

I found out I was a werepanther and he told me all he knew of my kind. Then the Splugorth began to die, it was as if the pyramid itself were attacking. The very stones were moving of their own will and crushing the monster. The power he displayed was astonishing, even the Splugorth stone masters stood no chance against him. Yet I could see the life rapidly leaving his body and I told him to stop.

He turned, grabbed me and we passed through the pyramid, through the very stone as if it did not exist and down into the core, into a room that no one but he know of. He told me all the pyramids of Atlantis were his creations, that he had invented stone magic and that he was tired of living. It was obvious the Atlantians had no desire to unite or reestablish their place as the keepers of this would.

Then he opened a pillar and inside it was a light orb, it seemed to flicker and fade. He told me to take it, that the temples could not run out of life force again. And if the Splugorth got it all the secrets of the pyramids would be revealed to them. I told him no." Then Landon just stopped.

"Oh no you don't, you can't just stop there. That's just cruel and unusual." I whined.

"Fine, nosey. He died. With his last breath he told me I was his slave and he shoved the orb into my chest, I felt the knowledge come into me as well as the history of his life and that of all of Atlantis. At that point I wished that I had eaten him when I had the chance.

However being an Atlantian perhaps that was the source of some of our enmity, you see they are supposed to destroy all unnatural beings especially the undead and werecreatures. So eventually the Splugorth stone masters broke into the chamber, found him dead, and turned me over, after trying to beat me, to his descendents, since property passes in such a way.

However he didn't teach his posterity this trade and they themselves were just above slavery due to debt. And so they sold me back into the slave camps and put me in with the other DBs instead of the animals. After a couple of weeks the Splugorth realized I didn't play well with others, and did not take orders. So I was put here, and became the punishment for unruly slaves. Don't you feel lucky? You're the first human to defy them. Most can't survive the camps, and the mental ones are just killed. I'm done now, aren't you cold?"

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A/N:** Sorry it took so long to update, I just wanted to wait untill I got a review before I wrote any more. So thank you very much to The Super Saiya-jin. 

triforcepower-2006


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Rifts Universe.**

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"Well like all men you do have a one track mind don't you? Haven't you ever tried to escape?"

"Well if you can live for another hour or so I will show you that I can come and go as I please."

"What?!"

And then he did what all bored cats do, he stretched and laid down for a nap. Now when I say laid down I mean he wrapped around me. I really wasn't sure how to react, so I just treated him like a normal cat and began to stroke his head and whispered

"Silly you never did tell me how old you were."

After a pause he answered,

"Two by my kind's age, roughly two thousand human years. I'm just a kitten." He chuckled.

"Wow a kitten huh? Well that's one I've never heard. I suppose I'd still be considered a child as well. Since I just turned eighteen a day ago."

At some point I fell asleep because the next thing I remembered was him waking me with that annoying kneading that cats do. Only it was more annoying since he was so large and I had practically no clothing on.

"Quietly." He said as I got up.

He nodded towards the door. I looked at it puzzled and looked back at him. My light was starting to flicker, the batteries were dying. It was odd how the light made his transformation seem more surreal. He took my hand and led me to the door. I could then see that both the guards were asleep. Just as I began to ask what was going on, he yanked me forward (with excessive force I might add), into his naked (yes naked, the man has no since of common decency) human form. As I started to scream at him, he covered my mouth with his hand and lifted me up with the other arm. He walked me towards the furthest wall from the door into the darkest corner. I wanted so badly to scream, after the violations of the past day I was not in the mood to be raped by a werepanther. Not that anyone is ever in the mood to be raped, but anyway. Then as he leaned into my body, he whispered,

"There's no need to be afraid, as soon as your heart rate slows and I can no longer smell your anxiety I will let you go." 'Fat chance of that' I thought to myself.

After a moment when I was remotely sure he was telling the truth I began to calm own, and he let me go. I tried to step away but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him, not into him, so I decided it might be a good idea to stay put. A few moments later once the room was completely still, he validated his earlier statement and the stone itself moved out of the was, with not a sound. He took my hand and led me out into the jungle.

"You have no chance of survival. But if you like you can try to find your way through the jungle to the shore, build a boat and head back to your home. It's really your best chance."

"Although I have absolutely no idea where I am??"

"So does that mean you want to stay with me? I'll try not to treat you as a pet."

"Well that's so very nice of you, but I'll tell you what if you'll get some clothing for the both of us, and you promise not to do the creepy yanking me around bit again, I'll consider staying in your company."

"I don't find clothes necessary for myself."

"Yes well my clothing is obscenely indecent and quite frankly I'm tired of looking at your naked human form. I'm not really used to it and it will make you stand out in a crowd. So if you don't mind?"

"You're foolish why would I leave the comfort of my food pen?"

"Well I really doubt I can make it though this jungle alone and I don't think you would have gone through the trouble of releasing me if you were just going to send me off by myself. Besides do you really want to live out your life in there? After all aren't you just a 'kitten'?"

"Fine."

"Alright then now what about some clothes and we acquire my weapons?"

"Follow me; I'll take you to a safe place in the jungle. Stay there, no matter what you hear coming from the camps. I can't guarantee I'll bring back your clothes or weapons but I will bring back a variety for you to choose form. Will that satisfy your 'conditions'?"

"Yes that will be fine, but you know if you could avoid any trouble that'd be great too." I said with a smile.

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**A/N:** Please read and review. It is much appreciated! 


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